Frog found in frozen okra

Published: Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 06:59 PM.

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Edward Vargas wasn’t ready for the frigid surprise he spied when he ripped open a bag of frozen okra and tossed it into a stir fry pan Saturday night.

Amid the pieces of whole okra rested a frozen frog.

Vargas’ 10-year-old son spotted the amphibian first.

“My son said, ‘It has the shape of a frog.’ And then he said ‘It is a frog,’” Vilmania Vargas said. “And I thought they were joking.”

But the frozen frog wasn’t a father and son prank.

Edward Vargas put the frog and okra back in the bag and into the freezer.

He and his wife filled out a form on the Pictsweet website notifying the company of their frigid find. Vargas didn’t remember when he bought the okra from a Walmart, but said he purchased five or six bags of okra to use for Thanksgiving meal with his family. This was the last bag Vargas had left.

Edward Vargas wasn’t ready for the frigid surprise he spied when he ripped open a bag of frozen okra and tossed it into a stir fry pan Saturday night.

Amid the pieces of whole okra rested a frozen frog.

Vargas’ 10-year-old son spotted the amphibian first.

“My son said, ‘It has the shape of a frog.’ And then he said ‘It is a frog,’” Vilmania Vargas said. “And I thought they were joking.”

But the frozen frog wasn’t a father and son prank.

Edward Vargas put the frog and okra back in the bag and into the freezer.

He and his wife filled out a form on the Pictsweet website notifying the company of their frigid find. Vargas didn’t remember when he bought the okra from a Walmart, but said he purchased five or six bags of okra to use for Thanksgiving meal with his family. This was the last bag Vargas had left.

A Pictsweet representative called Vargas Monday, apologizing for what happened. Vargas received a Styrofoam cooler packed with dry ice to send back the vegetables and foreign object Tuesday. Fed Ex came to pick up the package a few hours later at Vargas’ Gastonia home near Crowders Mountain.

“They were really concerned,” Vargas said.

A call to Pictsweet asking about their policy when foreign objects are found was not returned Tuesday.

Vargas doesn’t want a refund back from the company or to cause a big uproar over what he found. He contacted The Gazette to have proof in case the company denied that what Vargas found was a frog. He also wanted his story to serve as a caution to the community, a reminder to check any frozen vegetables before cooking them in case anything other than food was processed.